The Girl with the Bushy Brown Hair
by Halunygin
Summary: A Romione written for the Potions Class Challenge. Potion: Deflating Draught. Ron and Hermione meet before Hogwarts. Read and review:)


The first time he saw her, he was sitting in the sandbox. She had long bushy brown hair that moved as she swung back and forth on the swing-set. He paused, shovel in hand, to watch her pump her legs faster and faster, going higher and higher, a loud shriek of laughter punctuating every now and then. The sound filled him with a happiness his eight year mind couldn't explain. It was as if everything fun in the world was put into a single sound.

He wanted more than anything for her to talk to him, but he knew she wouldn't. Why would such a pretty girl ever look twice at a freckled weirdo like him? No, it was best in his favor to admire her from afar.

He was so focused on her, he didn't notice the identical redheaded boys sneaking up on him.

"Boo!"

"Ahh!" he screamed, and then he scowled. "Don't do that!"

"We're just playing, Ronnie," Fred grinned. "What were you doing? Watching the grass grow?"

"I wasn't doing anything," Ron replied hotly, taking a peek at the girl out of the corner of his eye, hoping she hadn't heard his girly utterance. He didn't need her to have any more reason to dislike him. "What do you want?"

"That's not a very nice tone, Ronnie," the other one, George, chided in a admirable impression of their mother. "Mum says it's time to go, she and Ginny are waiting for us."

"Okay," he sighed, getting up to follow his older brothers. He turned to take one last look at the girl with the bushy brown hair, making a solemn vow right then to spur some of the Gryffindor courage his oldest brother Bill once told him he had and talk to her if he ever saw her again.

* * *

The next time he saw her she was sitting on the swings again, gently swaying back and forth, her shiny black shoes scuffling the dirt. Taking a deep breath, peering back and forth to make sure his pesky brothers were out of sight, he approached the swings.

"Um, hi."

She looked up, nearly stunning him with her deep brown eyes. She gave him a big smile, displaying a small gap where her right incisor should have been.

"Hello," she returned, sounding much more eloquent than he could ever possibly muster. "What's your name?"

"Ron Weasley," he answered.

"I'm Hermione Granger, how can I help you?"

"Well, I-"

"You don't live around here, do you?" she queried before he could construct a decent response.

He shook his head. "I live in Devon."

"What are you doing here in London then?"

"Well, my mum needed to go shopping and this park was nearby."

"You came all the way to London just for groceries?" she questioned, her voice dripping with doubt.

"Well, it isn't that much trouble," he said. "You just step through the fireplace-"

"Step through the fireplace? You can't travel through a fireplace!"

"You can if you throw floo powder in the fire," he said, feeling very smart.

"You can't walk through fire, you'd burn," she said seriously.

"It doesn't hurt you, it's a magical fire-"

"Now I get it, you're lying to me," she accused.

"I'm not lying, I swear-"

"You're making fun of me," she cut in. "Did one of the other kids tell you to talk to me, to see if I'd believe you? Because I don't, magic isn't real."

"I wasn't making fun of you, magic is real," he insisted.

"No it's not!" she shouted, standing up in a rage before peering over her shoulder. "That's my mum. I hope you're proud of yourself. Good bye, Ron Weasley."

And she left, leaving him clueless about what he'd done to upset her.

"Ron?"

"What?" he grouched, softening slightly when he saw it was his little sister who had spoken.

"Mummy said we need to go," Ginny replied, looking quite unperturbed by her brother's moodiness.

"Alright," he sighed, and began walking towards his mother and brothers, his sister following close behind.

"Who was that girl you were talking to?" she soon asked, ever the inquisitive one. "Is she your girlfriend?"

"That girl is not my girlfriend, she's not even my friend," he spat. He hated her, that girl with the bushy brown hair. And he never wanted to see her again.

* * *

This time he stayed far away from her, or at least he tried to. There weren't many children at the park today, so he couldn't blend in with the crowd. He figured his best bet was to hide at the top of the slide until she left. He peeked through the criss-cross metal wall, and found she was no longer in sight. He let out a sigh of relief, which quickly turned into a scream as a voice spoke.

"There you are."

She had a dark blue hair clip pinning her bushy brown hair back away from her face.

He frowned at her. "What do you want?"

"I need to tell you something," she said. She crawled past him and said, "follow me," before sliding down.

Utterly bewildered, he slid down after her. "But what-"

"Come on," she said swiftly, grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him underneath a large oak tree, only then relaxing her grip enough for him to yank his hand back.

"I don't care what you have to tell me, you're mean," he said petulantly.

"You're right, and I'm sorry I didn't believe you," she said, twisting her hands. "You see, something really weird happened to me."

"Yeah?"

"Well, I was at school last week and this girl in my class, Megan Farley, she's a real bully, she was teasing me about my hair, and I was trying to ignore her, because that's what my mum says you're supposed to do, and she said she'd rather be bald than have hair like mine, and I got so angry, and the next thing I knew she was screaming because all her hair had disappeared!"

"Ha ha! That's cool," he laughed. "I've done some pretty terrible things to my little sister, but I've never made her hair fall out."

"What makes you think I did it?" she asked, after gaping at him.

He shrugged. "That girl made you mad, and when my brothers or my sister make me mad, I sometimes accidentally do things to them."

"Like what?"

"I once made the butter float above my sister and then fall on her head," he grinned. "And I made my brother Charlie's shoes extra slippery so he fell every step he took. Oh, and one time, I set my dad's work shed on fire."

"And you didn't get in trouble?" she gasped.

"Nah, my parents knew it was an accident, all young witches and wizards do it," he replied, shaking his head.

"So magic is real," she sighed. "And I can do it?"

"I guess. Your parents aren't magical?"

"If they were, don't you think I'd have known?" she asked sarcastically. He looked sheepish.

"Well, no, you wouldn't have. That makes you a Muggle-born."

"A what born?"

"Muggle-born. It means you're a witch whose parents are muggles, people who can't do magic," he clarified.

"Great," she sighed, sinking down against the tree. Puzzled by her behavior, he sank down beside her.

"What's wrong?"

"I have magical powers, just another thing that makes me weird at school," she scowled.

"You're not weird," he said.

"I like books more than people, and according to all the kids at my school, that makes me a weirdo," she said, laying her head sadly on her crossed arms, knees pulled to her chest.

"Well, so does my brother Percy, and my mum says he's unique, which means special," he said.

"I know what unique means," she smirked lightly. "But I'm not special."

"I think you are," he said out loud, before realizing it and blushing madly.

"Thank you," she said shyly, grinning, her cheeks pink as well.

It was a blissful moment, so of course Fred and George chose this moment to sneak up and embarrass their little brother tremendously.

"What's this? Has Ronnie landed himself a girlfriend?" Fred gasped.

"It appears he has!" George exclaimed with equal surprise. "But why would a cute girl like that dally with our Ickle Ronniekins?"

"It's a mystery, all right!"

Ron flushed darkly, trying to avoid her gaze and cursing his terrible brothers. Why did they have to do this now, right when she was actually starting to like him?

He was so caught up in his humiliation that he didn't notice her stand up and place her hands on her hips, glaring at the twins.

"That's a rude thing to say."

"It's cute of you to come to your boyfriend's defense, but not necessary," George said, giving her a patronizing look. "We're his brothers, see."

"I don't care who you are! Go away and leave us alone or I'll-"

"Tell us, cutie, what will you do to us?" Fred asked, smirking at her.

"I'll tell your mum you were picking on me," she finished, crossing her arms and arching an eyebrow.

The twins paused and regarded her warily. She turned and pointed.

"That's her, right? The woman with the red hair?"

Ron nodded surreptitiously while his brothers continued to stare at her. She stared right back, and made a move to run, before they gave in.

"Alright, fine, we'll go!" George shouted in fear. She smirked once more, and pointed, gesturing for them to leave, which they did in a rather sour fashion.

Ron could do nothing but gape at her in admiration. She looked embarrassed as she sat down again.

"Well, I had to do something," she muttered defensively.

He grinned at her. "That was wicked."

"It was, wasn't it?" she agreed, and blew on her nails vainly. "I'm a pretty tough nut, aren't I?"

He simply laughed. Oh, he liked her, he really liked her, Hermione Granger, that girl with the bushy brown hair.


End file.
